The Frankfurt International Auto Show is held every other year and is definitely not your common car show. Kicking off on September 13th and running through September 25th, the Germans sure know how to showcase the latest sexy car designs.

From what we can see, this year’s trends are futuristic New Concept designs, precious metal finishes and fuel-efficient, “small-car” profiles designed to appeal to the younger car buyers.

If you are into luxury cars or the latest auto designs, the images from the show will surely get your engines purring! The various blogs and articles that we’ve been reading have gotten us at Auto SuperShield very excited about this Fall’s upcoming shows in Miami and Las Vegas.

In the meantime, here is a round-up of the media coverage of this week’s show:

BMW Concept Car

The Auto and Trends article, Frankfurt Motor Show 2011: Top 10 Hot Wheels (PHOTOS) in the International Business Times has an excellent Slideshow of the latest creations. Their hot picks include: the new BMW i8 Concept Car and the elegant, gull-winged Mercedes Benz F125.

Autoweek is a great site if you want a Virtual Tour of the show. Their pick for the Editor’s Choice award is the sleek Jaguar C-X16. This beautiful coupe oozes luxury and class with an elongated hood design reminiscent of a classic racing car.

One of our favorite articles this week is GearboxMagazine.com’s nostalgic trip down memory lane. In a series of quick smartphone images of brochures, he takes us back 20 years to the trip he took as a kid to the Frankfurt Auto Show. His look back was a fresh and creative approach to covering the event in the midst of the glamorous and glitzy media blitz.

Metallic Chrome Finish Mini Car

In keeping with today’s economic conditions, the Wall Street Journal highlights the various designs of mini cars that were introduced to appeal to the younger market. In today’s world, bigger is not better. The new small-car designs being showcased at the IAA are the Mercedes B-class, Volkswagon Up mini car, and Fiat’s Panda. Today’s car designers are clearly recognizing that there is an increasing need for fuel-efficiency without sacrificing the desire for great design. Hopefully, those savvy, little wheels will make it to the US!

Wowza!!! For Formula 1 race fans, like those of us at AutoSupershield who are lucky enough to be jetting over to Singapore for the race, you all are in for 3 days of sheer entertainment.

While we all love Monaco, Singapore is really taking racing and entertainment to a whole new level. The race will take place September 23rd – 25th of 2011 and is a circuit with challenging turns throughout the world-class city. There will be 9 grandstands situated in various locations and spectators will be watching from the rooftops and balconies of hotels and buildings with views of the race circuit. The night racing is sure to be a gorgeous event.

What is dazzling is the sheer number of global entertainment acts in the performance program. As if the race was not going to be exciting enough! From all continents of the globe, artists will showcase talents that will showcase the spectrum of world talent. On race day, September 25th, the US rock band, Linkin Park, will be the highlight of the day. Shakira, from Columbia, is sure to get the hips moving in the stands and spark the Latin passion on Saturday as well.

And if that is not star-studded enough for you, Shaggy will be bringing on the Jamaican vibe on Saturday and Sunday. Charice from the Philippines shines with vocal talent. Boy George and Rick Astley cast us back into the carefree 80′s with their UK dance hits. There will be dance troupes and artists from Thailand, Italy, Africa, Australia, Brazil and France. Check out the Entertainment Program on the Singapore Grand Prix website for a full schedule of this weekend’s entertainment extravaganza.

As for me, I am daydreaming about enjoying the race sipping a glass of champagne from the rooftop of the French restaurant, Saint Julien. Sigh… maybe next year! For those of you attending, dress for tropical weather and enjoy the festivities. Shoot some great pictures to us with your phones and keep us updated via Twitter and Facebook. We’d love to be “in on” the fun, too!

For those of you who also can’t make it over for this race, the Singapore Grand Prix will be broadcast on the BBC and the SPEED channel on cable tv. I bet the Facebook page will also be abuzz with race chatter.

The big question is… Will Sebastian Vetter wrap up the driver’s title for 2011 by winning the Singapore Grand Prix? No matter the outcome, this race is sure to be a sizzling event!

I know… I know… It’s still 2 months away, but what car fanatic can resist looking forward to the South Florida International Auto Show.

This year, the South Florida International Auto Show will be celebrating 40 years of exhibiting the latest and greatest of the upcoming car designs. Mark your Calendars for October 28th through November 6th, 2011 and join us at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

Since 1971, Miami has hosted one of the largest annual car shows in the US. These auto shows highlight not only the latest technologies, but the evolution of the automobile through exhibiting classic and antique cars. This year will be no exception and you may want to stay tuned for more information about this year’s events by visiting here from time to time. We also love to receive tweets, comments and images from car fans that enjoy sharing on our sites. For updates, join us on our Auto SuperShield Facebook Page or tweet us at @AutoSuperShield. We also have a sleek new website: AutoSuperShield.com, 3M Paint Protection

Here are some big misconceptions:
“I thought love bugs wouldn’t stick to my clear bra”. Okay, it’s paint protection film. Hence the name: 3M Paint Protection Film (PPF). It’s not a magic piece of material that stuff won’t stick to.
“I thought it would last forever”. The 3M warranty covers the film for five years. Nothing placed on the surface of a car (especially in the hot south Florida sun) lasts forever, except for maybe a good, deep scratch.

The simple fact is, a 3M Paint Protection package will protect the painted surface of any vehicle in which it is applied. Don’t expect it to last forever, prevent dents from happening or that it will never get scuffed from an impact. Don’t expect it not to stain when a bird poops on it. Don’t expect it to stay perfectly clear when bug acids cook on it for a week. However, when these things do happen, you can clean the film up a.s.a.p., spray it down and wax it up. It will keep the paint underneath it perfect until it’s removed in five years. If its garage kept more than it’s out in the elements it will outlive its warranty and life expectancy of five years. One last thing to remember is, if you wreck your car and you have a clear bra installed, your insurance company will replace it for you.

Paint Protection film does work, just remember it’s a clear plastic film for protection of your vehicles paint. It’s not a bullet proof vest.

There are times when just a subtle touch can make all the difference in unique auto customizations and take your cars from the drab “off the lot” look to one that stands out in the crowd.

This was the case when Paul and his partner, Richard, brought their 2012 Ford Fusion SEL to Auto SuperShield. Initially, they came in to have our Paint Protection Film (a.k.a “clear bra”) installed on the hood, fenders, mirrors and front bumper. While discussing Auto SuperShield’s numerous customization and protection options, they noticed the many different ways to set their steel blue Fusion up and set it apart from the mundane factory appearance. This is when Richard’s “gear head” started clicking.

While gazing at our “Wall of Fame” photos in our customer living room / lounge area, they took notice that we do elaborate stripe, graphic and matte wrap installations. Paul felt that there must be something Auto SuperShield could do to break up the solid blue color of the Fusion doors without going overboard and still looking classy.

So the decision was made to go with a stripe cut from the 3M 1080i matte black film since it created a nice, soft shadow against the blue metallic gloss paint.

The inspiration for the graphic scheme of the matte stripe was found in the Ford Mustang. The final unique touch was cutting the letters “SEL” out of the stripe instead of vice versa. This allowed the steel blue color to show through the stripe.

Richard chose to place the stripe in the valley above the body line rather than below the line on of the lower portion of the door, where we would normally install it. This in the end proved to be a nice touch that makes this a truly unique customization. The metallic paint pops and the matte stripe blends nicely!